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CEL Newsletter - January 2013
Teacher Evaluation for Continuous Growth and Improvement | |
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| Director's Message |
 Teacher Evaluation for Continuous Growth and Improvement
By Dr. Stephen Fink, executive director of the Center for Educational Leadership. He is the co-author of "Leading for Instructional Improvement: How Successful Leaders Develop Teaching and Learning Expertise."
In this age of political disagreement, most would agree that the main purpose of newly adopted teacher evaluation instruments is to help teachers improve their teaching effectiveness. However, a policy disconnect stands in the way of how these new evaluation models can lead to improvement in teaching practice. To understand why, let's take a look at the genesis of the recent teacher evaluation movement.
When President Obama signed into law the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, the federal government aimed to stimulate the economy, support job creation, and invest in critical sectors, including education. The Recovery Act provided $4.35 billion for the Race to the Top Fund, a grant program designed to reward states for education reform. The first round of grants sought to ensure that states were serious about teacher accountability. In order to receive funding, states had to enact sweeping changes in how teachers were to be evaluated.
Race to the Top implied that we can no longer afford to retain ineffective teachers. It placed the effort to develop new teacher evaluation models very clearly in the policy world of accountability, which is quite different than continuous growth and improvement.
Read more >> |
| Flipping the Old Approach to Teacher Evaluation | |
 |  | | Anneke Markholt | Patty Maxfield |
By Anneke Markholt and Patty Maxfield
As a district or school leader, how do you take the opportunity presented by a new teacher evaluation model to truly marry growth with accountability in teacher practice? We believe by taking the old notion of teacher evaluation and flipping it 180 degrees.
Unlike the traditional evaluation process where principals may only evaluate teachers once a year or in some cases every couple of years, with very little feedback on practice between evaluation points, today's evaluation means all day, every day.
For teachers, if the old evaluation approach was a dog and pony show, "where I plan extra hours for this one lesson that the principal comes and observes," then the new approach is focused on "how I execute and improve my practice day in, day out."
Evaluation is no longer what happens during a single, 60-minute observation. Evaluation now encompasses year-round instructional practice with an emphasis on how teachers use their understanding of instructional practice to ensure that students are learning. It is an ongoing process that teachers, principals and colleagues work on together. Read more >> |
| CEL Webinar: What Do Leaders Need To Know To Effectively Evaluate Teaching? | |
 Join CEL executive director, Dr. Stephen Fink, for a live 60-minute webinar, What Do Leaders Need To Know To Effectively Evaluate Teaching?, on Wednesday, February 13, 2013 from 10:00 to 11:00 a.m. Pacific Time.
Improving student achievement depends on our ability to improve the quality of teaching, and school leaders must have the instructional expertise necessary to evaluate and support teachers in the improvement process. Discover powerful new research that illustrates the level of instructional expertise among leaders, as well as the most recent learning regarding the implementation of new evaluation models.
Dr. Fink will guide presentation participants toward three outcomes: 1) Recognize what constitutes high-quality classroom teaching, 2) Identify the instructional expertise necessary to effectively evaluate teaching practice, and 3) Discover tools to support teachers in the improvement of teaching.
Learn more and register >> |
| Save the Dates: Summer Leadership Institute - July 9-10, 2013 | |
 Join educators July 9-10, 2013 in Seattle at the University of Washington Center for Educational Leadership's two-day Summer Leadership Institute, "Feedback for Teacher Growth: Tools and Processes to Support Teacher Evaluation."
The 2013 Summer Leadership Institute will support principals, teachers and central office leaders to learn the skills for giving feedback and to create a culture that results in effective teacher evaluations centered on growth of teacher practice and improvement of student learning.
Learn more >> |
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| Tool Shop |  |
The 5D+™ GoObserve™ App is now available. Learn more about this electronic teacher observation and evaluation tool.
Visit the Tool Shop >>
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Product Corner
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Classroom Instruction Videos: Observe classroom instruction using CEL's instructional framework, the 5 Dimensions of Teaching and Learning™ as the lens. DVDs are available for sale in our online store.
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Leading for Instructional Improvement, by Stephen Fink and Anneke Markholt, shows how teacher, school and district leaders can cultivate the expertise of teachers to deliver high quality instruction for all students.
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5D™ E-Learning Series CEL's Purposeful Instruction course, the first course in our 5D E-Learning Series, is an ideal support for increasing teachers' capacity to deliver powerful instruction for all students.
Begin a free trial today >>
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CEL Newsletter | |
The CEL Newsletter is issued quarterly. Visit our website for current news.
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About the Center for Educational Leadership
The Center for Educational Leadership (CEL) is dedicated to eliminating the achievement gap that continues to divide our nation's children along the lines of race, class, language and disability. CEL believes the nexus for eliminating the gap lies in the development of leadership capacity ---- specifically, nurturing the will to act on behalf of the most underserved students while increasing leadership knowledge and skill to dramatically improve the quality of instruction.
As a nonprofit center within the University of Washington College of Education, our access to current research and best practices makes our work toward this goal especially effective.
©2013, University of Washington Center for Educational Leadership | Contact Us 5D, 5D+, '5 Dimensions of Teaching and Learning' and other logos/identifiers are trademarks of the University of Washington Center for Educational Leadership. GoObserve is a trademark of GoKnow Mobile Solutions, Inc.
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